Confusion about Israel-Arab affairs is often the result of incomplete or false historical information. This section clarifies some of the pressing questions of Israeli-Arab history by showing actual events, eye witness accounts, and other documentation of historical significance.

The photos show Israeli army forces preparing to demolish the home of terrorist Khaled Makhamreh in Yatta, south of Hebron.

Posted text: “Tracking what is occurring in the city of Yatta
A large number of occupation soldiers are around the home of the one who carried out the Tel Aviv operation (i.e., terrorist attack, 4 murdered), prisoner Khaled Makhamreh, inside the city of Yatta, accompanied by military bulldozers."

Muhammad Ahmad Musa Makhamreh and Khaled Muhammad Musa Makhamreh - 21-year-old Palestinian terrorists and also cousins, who carried out a shooting attack in Tel Aviv on June 8, 2016, murdering 4 Israelis and injuring 16. The terrorists ordered desert in the Max Brenner restaurant in the Sarona Market, before they began shooting at people. Muhammad Makhamreh and Khaled Makhamreh were both apprehended by the Israeli police, one of them shot and wounded before being caught and brought for treatment in an Israeli hospital.

Headline: “The situation in the occupation’s prisons is on the verge of explosion”
“The Israeli Supreme Court decided yesterday [Aug. 3, 2016] to demolish part of the home of the family of the youth Martyr (Shahid) Muhammad Taraireh, who carried out the stabbing operation in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, in which an Israeli girl [Hallel Yaffa Ariel] was killed (i.e., murdered by Taraireh as she slept in her bed).”
Muhammad Taraireh – 17-year-old Palestinian terrorist, who stabbed and murdered 13-year-old American Israeli Hallel Yaffa Ariel, as she slept in her bed, in her home in Kiryat Arba near Hebron, on June 30, 2016. Taraireh also injured one of the Israeli security personnel before he was shot and killed.

“Modern University College yesterday [Aug. 2, 2016] began the graduation ceremony for the 33rd class of diploma students and the third for bachelor’s degree in law students at the Red Crescent Building in the city of El-Bireh.

As part of the graduation ceremony – which included students in the administrative fields and bachelors of law students – four of [Modern] University College’s Martyrs (Shahids) who died in recent months and who were supposed to graduate in this class, were recognized as graduates. The Martyrs are: Martyr Jaafar Awad, graduate Martyr Mahmoud Alyan, graduate Martyr Ahmad Jahajha, and graduate Martyr Ali Al-Kar.

Present at the ceremony were [PA] Minister of Education and Higher Education Sabri Saidam, a delegation from the ministry, representatives of the Ramallah and El-Bireh district, of the [PA] Security Forces, and of official and private institutions, and also relatives of the graduate students. In his speech, Minister of Education and Higher Education Sabri Saidam blessed the students and their families on the conclusion of the studies… He turned to the Martyrs’ relatives and emphasized that these families are not alone and will never be alone, as the homeland, the liberation, and the independence require sacrifices and struggle at all levels. He noted that the Martyrs of the Modern University College, like the rest of the homeland’s Martyrs, will continue to be the beacon that guides us and the lights that light the path to liberation for us.

In his speech, Chairman of Modern University College’s Board of Trustees Samer Al-Shuyoukhi said: ‘While it receives the graduates of this class with all honor, Modern University College remembers four of its students who were meant to participate in the joy with us and to be among us. However, the truth is, they are among us – in their memory, in their sacrifice, and in their stanc

Headline: “The assassination of Muhammad Al-Faqih, who carried out the Otniel operation, during a military operation against a home in Surif”
“The occupation forces assassinated Martyr (Shahid) Muhammad Jabara Al-Faqih, 29, early yesterday morning [July 27, 2016] in a lengthy military operation carried out against him in one of the homes in the village of Surif, northwest of Hebron…
A short time before he carried out the Otniel operation (i.e., terror attack, 1 murdered) on the first of this month [July 2016] in which Michael Mark was killed - one of the settler leaders in the settlement of Otniel... and an additional three were injured, he [Al-Faqih] worked for a telephone company and lived in Hebron…
The Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)] praised the heroic battle staged by the ‘brave hero Muhammad Al-Faqih, which went on for many hours and led to the injury of a number of occupation soldiers, and in the end to his death as a Martyr,’ and sent its sincere condolences to the masses of our people.
The front emphasized that Martyr Al-Faqih belongs to the generation of resistance that refuses to surrender and accept the reality that the occupation imposes in the field through its steps, its terror, and its policy of home demolition and massacres in the shadow of international and Western silence.
The front concluded its statement by saying that ‘The resistance of our people continues, and we are in the midst of an unlimited confrontation. We will not stop with the deaths as Martyrs of the heroic resistance fighters Mutaz Hijazi, Mutaz Washaha, Muhammad Al-Faqih, and all the heroes of our people, as they will continue to be torches lighting the path of the return, freedom, and state for us.”

Headline: “Erekat condemned the crime [of killing] Al-Faqih, and called to remove the political and legal cover from the occupation"

“Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat condemned the crime of killing civilian Muhammad Al-Faqih (i.e., terrorist who murdered 1), 29, in Surif in Hebron in the early morning hours today, Wednesday [July 27, 2016], as well as the wounding of additional people by the occupation forces and the destruction of Al-Faqih’s house with rockets and weapons.”

Muhammad Al-Faqih, 29-year-old Hamas terrorist who had previously been imprisoned for planning terror attacks when affiliated with the Islamic Jihad, and Muhammad Amira, terrorist and a member of the PA police force, murdered Rabbi Michael Mark, a 48-year-old father of ten, in a shooting attack on July 1, 2016 on Route 60 in the southern Har Hebron region. Al-Faqih opened fire on the Mark family's car causing the vehicle to overturn and crash. Amira was driving the car from which Al-Faqih shot at them. Rabbi Mark’s wife Chava, 40, was also seriously wounded in the attack, and two of their children were injured – their daughter Tehila, 15, and their son Pedayah, 16. Al-Faqih and Amira fled the scene, but were located by the Israeli army on July 27, 2016. Al-Faqih resisted arrest and shot at the soldiers from his home where he had barricaded himself. Al-Faqih was killed when the Israeli soldiers shot an anti-tank missile and other artillery at his house. Amira was arrested.

The picture shows terrorist Muhammad Al-Faqih, who murdered an Israeli and later was killed after shooting at Israeli security forces

Posted text: “A picture of Martyr (Shahid) Muhammad Al-Faqih. It should be noted that the occupation pursued after him from the beginning of the current month [July 2016] on charges of conducting the Otniel operation (i.e., terror attack) that brought about the death of an Israeli settler, and he [Al-Faqih] is a released prisoner who served 6 years in the occupation’s prisons.”

Muhammad Al-Faqih, 29-year-old Hamas terrorist who had previously been imprisoned for planning terror attacks when affiliated with the Islamic Jihad, and Muhammad Amira, terrorist and a member of the PA police force, murdered Rabbi Michael Mark, a 48-year-old father of ten, in a shooting attack on July 1, 2016 on Route 60 in the southern Har Hebron region. Al-Faqih opened fire on the Mark family's car causing the vehicle to overturn and crash. Amira was driving the car from which Al-Faqih shot at them. Rabbi Mark’s wife Chava, 40, was also seriously wounded in the attack, and two of their children were injured – their daughter Tehila, 15, and their son Pedayah, 16. Al-Faqih and Amira fled the scene, but were located by the Israeli army on July 27, 2016. Al-Faqih resisted arrest and shot at the soldiers from his home where he had barricaded himself. Al-Faqih was killed when the Israeli soldiers shot an anti-tank missile and other artillery at his house. Amira was arrested.

Fatah-run Awdah TV, broadcast of the song "We Swear by Allah"
Visual: At the start of the music video terrorist Ahmad Manasrah is shown lying wounded on the ground after he was shot by Israeli police when he carried out a stabbing attack with his cousin Hassan Manasrah.

Song lyrics: “We swear by Allah, we will not leave
We swear by Allah, [even if] we starve and die, we will not leave
We swear in the name of the revolution, the revolutionaries, and the masses, we will not leave
We are a piece of this land, and we swear by the land, we swear by Allah, we will not leave
We swear, in the name of Allah and in the name of the blood
[Even if] we starve and die, we will not leave”Pisgat Ze'ev stabbing attack - On Oct. 12, 2015, two Palestinian terrorists, Hassan ‎Manasrah (15) and Ahmad Manasrah (13), stabbed Yossef Ben Shalom (21) in the Pisgat ‎Ze'ev neighborhood of East Jerusalem, and then repeatedly stabbed Naor Ben Ezra (13) who was riding his bike. Hassan Manasrah was killed while fleeing the scene, and Ahmad Manasrah was shot by Israeli police and hospitalized. Both victims of the attack were seriously injured. The terrorists, who were cousins, came from the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina.

Uncle of terrorist Muawiyah Alqam: "Muawiyah is in jail like every prisoner. I met with him and spoke with him. His spirit is strong. He always asks me about the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. He said plainly and with a good deal of innocence: ‘Maybe after two operations (i.e., terror attacks) they (i.e., the Jews) will stop invading the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.’"Official PA TV host: "It is clear that the small hopes of this child are connected to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."Program: Good Morning JerusalemClick to view videoClick to view bulletin

The PA and its leaders consider all of the Temple Mount an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore they view any presence of Jews on the mount as an “invasion.” Jews who visit the Temple Mount only enter some sections of the open areas, and do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock.

Stabbing attack at a light rail stop in Pisgat Ze’ev - Two Palestinian terrorists, Muawiyah and Ali Alqam, aged 14 and 11, stabbed and wounded an Israeli security guard at a Jerusalem light rail stop in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood, on Nov. 10, 2015. The security guard shot and wounded the 14-year-old stabber and the second terrorist was held by passengers until security forces arrived. In July 2016, Muawiyah Alqam was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.

Official PA TV News, on the “Martyrdom-death” of terrorist Mustafa Baradiya at the entrance to the Al-Aroub refugee camp after he stabbed two Israeli soldiers
Mustafa Baradiya’s daughter: “Praise to Allah, father is a Martyr (Shahid) and my uncle (i.e., Ibrahim Baradiya) is a Martyr. We are proud of them and raise our heads. Allah willing, may Allah give him the highest level in Paradise. May [Allah] compensate us with good for this tragedy. Praise to Allah, [he is] a Martyr. May generous Allah give us patience, may Allah allow us to act with patience and give us compensation, Allah willing.”Mustafa Baradiya – Palestinian Hamas terrorist who stabbed and wounded two Israeli soldiers with a screwdriver at the entrance to the Al-Aroub refugee camp in Gush Etzion on July 18, 2016. The soldiers shot and wounded Baradiya, and according to Palestinian reports he died of his wounds the next day. PMW has been unable to confirm this. A knife was also found in his belongings. Three months earlier, on April 14, 2016, Baradiya’s brother, Ibrahim Baradiya, also a Hamas terrorist, tried to attack Israeli soldiers with an ax at the same site and was shot and killed by them.

Headline: “Fatah: Our holy sites are a red line , and we will not allow them to be Judaized, the world must bear responsibility for the consequences”
“The Fatah Movement emphasized that the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the sites holy to Islam and Christianity are red lines and the settlers cannot ever be allowed to harm them.
[Fatah] Movement Spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi: ‘The fact that a Jewish family from the settlement of Kiryat Arba held religious ceremonies at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque plaza (i.e., memorial for terror victim Hallel Yaffa Ariel on the Temple Mount), and the settlers' repeated invasions of it, are a dangerous matter that heralds an explosion of the situation.’
Al-Qawasmi said that the attempts of the occupation state to Judaize East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque constitute contempt for the international community and its laws. Likewise, he emphasized Fatah's opposition to the occupation's efforts to turn the invasions into a f ait accompli, and recalled the Jerusalem uprising (i.e., several months of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis 2015 - 2016) that came in order to express the opposition of the Palestinian people and its leadership to the harm to the sites holy to the Palestinian people..."Click to view bulletin
Click "full article" for a longer excerpt from the article and for background information

Headline: "'High school matriculation exam Martyrs (Shahids)' - present in blessings to their schoolmates"
Sub-headline: "Sixteen male and female students succeeded [in achieving] the Martyrdom (Shahada) (i.e., play on words - Shahada can also mean certificate) of the homeland and withstanding its difficult tests"
"The day of the publication of high school matriculation exam results is known as a day of long expectation, and as a first step in the realization of the aspirations of tens of thousands of students who sat on the school benches for 12 years. Some of them are disappointed because they did not receive the grade they hoped for or did not succeed. Some of them view this day as the day of their birth and the start of their path in life, work, and building. However, the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and their relatives find themselves proud of the Martyrdom (Shahada, also means "certificate") that their children achieved with the Creator and in the homeland... Sixteen [students] succeeded [in achieving] the Martyrdom (Shahada) of the homeland and withstanding its difficult tests, for death as a Martyr is the path to excellence and greatness, and the path of those who know how to reach the great victory." Click to view bulletin

Click "full article" for a longer excerpt and more information

Published in WAFA (official PA news agency), on July 11, 2016 and in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on July 12, 2016

Posted text: “Sixteen male and female students who were supposed to wait now for the announcement of the [high school matriculation exam] results
But they achieved Martyrdom (Shahada) (i.e., play on words - Shahada can also mean ‘certificate’) before everyone else
This is #Palestine”

Headline: “[PLO Executive Committee member] Dr. [Ahmed] Majdalani: Majdalani: "The Israeli occupation denied 16 families the joy of high school matriculation results”
“Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary-General and PLO Executive Committee member…Dr. [Ahmed] Majdalani said in a press statement that reached Amad (i.e., independent Palestinian news website): ‘In these moments, we feel the absence of the 16 student Martyrs (Shahids) who were supposed to sit the high school matriculation exams, but the occupation forces, their violence, and their aggression prevented them from taking this test and denied their families the joy [of high school matriculation.] This is in addition to 20 high school students who were recently arrested and are behind the bars of the occupation’s prisons, which confirms that every Palestinian is a target for this fascist government.’”

Headline: “The occupation sentenced prisoner Bilal Ghanem to 3 life sentences and an additional 60 years”
“Attorney for the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Muhammad Mahmoud announced today (Monday) [July 11, 2016] that the occupation’s district court in occupied Jerusalem sentenced prisoner Bilal Ghanem from Jabel Mukaber in occupied Jerusalem to 3 life sentences and an additional 60 years.
Mahmoud added that the court imposed very high monetary fines on Ghanem that reach a total of 1,900,000 Israeli shekels: 750,000 shekels as compensation to the families of those killed, 150,000 to every injured person, and 100,000 to the driver of the bus on which the operation (i.e., terror attack, 3 murdered) was carried out.
It should be noted that prisoner Ghanem carried out a shooting and stabbing operation, together with Martyr (Shahid) Baha Alyan, in a settler bus in the Armon Hanatziv area of occupied Jerusalem on Oct. 13 last year [2015], one day after the terrorist attack of settlers against the boy prisoner Ahmad Manasrah (Israeli police apprehended him after he stabbed 2 people –Ed.)... Likewise it was said that the two arrived at the place of the operation, exchanged a signal between them, and then began to carry out the operation. Ghanem opened fire on the settlers sitting in the back of the bus, while Alyan began to stab with a knife…”

Click "full article" for a longer excerpt from the article and for more information about the terror attack

Official PA TV program Good Morning Jerusalem, interview with Muhammad Alyan, father of Palestinian terrorist Baha Alyan who killed 3 together with an accomplice, about the terrorists’ bodies that had not yet been transferred to their families at the time of the interview.
Father of murderer Baha Alyan, Muhammad Alyan, on official PA TV program Good Morning Jerusalem: "If the struggle [over the Martyrs’ bodies] was a matter concerning only Baha (i.e., murderer of 3), I would say from the beginning that the whole land of Palestine is the grave of my son and I would never demand him [returned] because I am proud of what he did, and every part of Palestine is his land and the place of his grave." Click to view videoClick "full article" for background on terrorist and terror attack.

It should be noted that Martyrs Anan Abu Habseh and Issa Assaf ascended [to Heaven] last Dec. 23 [2015] after carrying out a stabbing operation against settlers near Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. As a result of this, 2 settlers were killed (1 murdered by the terrorists, 1 accidentally shot by Israeli police –Ed.), and another settler was injured.”

Issa Yassin Assaf and Anan Abu Habseh – 21-year-old and 20-year-old Palestinian terrorists who carried out a stabbing attack at the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on Dec. 23, 2015. One Israeli was killed and another was wounded in the attack. Israeli police shot and killed the two terrorists and accidentally shot and killed an Israeli who was trying to stop the terrorists.

Official PA TV News, report on a sit-down strike demanding the return of terrorists’ bodies

Participants in the strike display a poster with a picture of terrorist Baha Alyan who murdered 3 Israelis in Jerusalem together with an accomplice in October 2015

Text on poster: “[The people of the] Arab seat of Al-Sawahrah – Jabel Mukaber (i.e., neighborhoods in Jerusalem) accompanies [the groom] (i.e., Martyr's funeral is considered wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam) of our Palestinian people, a son of Al-Sawahrah and Jerusalem, heroic Martyr (Shahid) Baha Alyan, who carried out the brave operation (i.e., terror attack) in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday Oct. 13, 2015”

Jerusalem line 78 bus terror attack - On Oct. 13, 2015, two Palestinian terrorists, Baha Alyan (22) and Bilal Ghanem (23) boarded a bus in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood with a gun and a knife and attacked passengers, killing Israelis Chaim Haviv (78) and Alon Govberg (51), and Richard Lakin (76), and wounding 3 Israelis. Alyan was shot and killed by an Israeli security guard at the scene and Ghanem, a Hamas terrorist who served time in Israeli prison in 2013-2014, was wounded.

Headline: “Fatah: We will not agree to a reduction of the legal rights of our people”
“The Fatah Movement Central Committee discussed a number of issues last night [July 2, 2016], including the internal situation, the Quartet’s statement (a warning that the path that Israel and the PA are following will prevent a two-state solution and lead to a reality of one state for two peoples –Ed.), and returning the national unity [between Fatah and Hamas], during its meeting at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, led by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas....
The Central Committee expressed its condolences to the families of our people’s heroic Martyrs (Shahids), who sacrificed themselves for the freedom of their people (possibly referring to several months of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis 2015 - 2016 -Ed.), and wished a full recovery to the brave wounded and freedom to our heroic prisoners.”

Headline: “Report: The occupation (i.e., Israel) killed 78 civilians and arrested 3,230 in the first half of 2016”

“The Abdallah Al-Hourani Center for Research and Documentation, which is affiliated with the PLO, stated in its report on the subject of Israeli violations that the Israeli occupation forces killed 78 citizens and demolished 620 homes and buildings in the first half of 2016.

The center clarified in its biannual report published today (Friday) [July 1, 2016], that the majority of the 78 Martyrs (Shahids) were executed at checkpoints spread throughout the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and that they include 22 children and 9 women. Therefore, the number of Martyrs since the outbreak of the popular uprising (i.e., Palestinian euphemism for several months of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis 2015 - 2016 -Ed.) at the beginning of last October [2015] has risen to 223 (Most of the Palestinians were killed while attacking Israelis - Ed.). The occupation authorities are still holding the bodies of dozens of Martyrs, six of them from the Jerusalem district.”

The terms "all means," "peaceful uprising,” and “popular uprising" are ‎often used by PA leaders to refer to events that include violence and deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as rock-throwing, stabbings and even shootings. See ‎Mahmoud Abbas' reference to murderous terror as "peaceful" during the 2015-2016 ‎terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), which included numerous stabbing ‎attacks: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=16437